1. Technical Field
The subject matter described herein generally relates to the field of electronic media and, more particularly, to systems and methods for determining suitability of a particular book for conversion to an audio book.
2. Background Information
Electronic book readers, implemented on special-purpose devices as well as on conventional desktop, laptop and hand-held computers, have become commonplace. Usage of such readers has accelerated dramatically in recent years. Electronic book readers provide the convenience of having numerous books available on a single device, and also allow different devices to be used for reading in different situations.
Electronic books are available not only in conventional text/graphic form for visual reading, but also in audio form. Many readers prefer reading a book in a traditional manner (i.e., viewing it in visual form) but would also like to progress through the book at times when traditional reading may not be feasible, such as when commuting to work while driving an automobile. Other readers may find it advantageous to listen to a book (or audio from a lecture) and follow along as needed in the text version of the book (or, correspondingly, a text transcript of the lecture).
The benefits of enjoying an audio book version of any particular book vary widely based on the nature of the book. For instance, consider a comic book. For many readers the experience of an audio version of such a book would be unsatisfactory, as the visual elements and the juxtaposition between the graphical and textual elements of the book are important to the overall reading experience. Similarly, an atlas, a geography book, a pictorial history, or a photography guide may exemplify books for which audio versions would not be well received. It would be advantageous to extend the benefits of electronic book technology further, for instance to automatically determine a suitability metric for converting a book into audio form.